Stamp Out Chaos update and a Publication share

Hello friends!

So I am afraid that the Easter holiday got the better of me over the past couple weeks and I don't have a Stamp Out Chaos update to share this week. Sad face... :(  I promise that the next Stamp Out Chaos post will be on May 7 and Lindsay and I will be taking on the topic of Embellishments.

Over the past couple of weeks I have made progress on my space including purging over 6 boxes of craft supplies and donating it to Sophie's Kindergarten teacher.  I have also pulled out some under-loved stamps and dies which I will be listing for sale in the coming week.

I am afraid I have come to the point though in my organizational journey that I have to get serious about making improvements to the room.  After all, there is only so much that can be done within the confines of an Expedit cube.  Yes, friends, I am talking about spackle and paint.  I can tell myself that spackle is like embossing paste for the walls, but that won't change the fact that I have a messy and time-consuming project ahead of me.  I have picked up a few paint swatches and have taped them up on the wall to try them out a bit.

So far, I am leaning toward the lightest shade on the middle swatch card called Polar Star (aka light gray).  I think I am looking for something neutral against which I can accent with bold accent colors.  

Once the painting is complete, I can hang a shelf above my work area that I think will be critical in helping me keep some essential supplies orderly and within reach.  I will also be able to tackle die storage which will help immensely. More to come on that in the coming weeks.

Well, I don't want to sign off today without something creative, so I wanted to share a card I made for the Get Well feature in the April 2014 issue of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine.   It was featured on the Plugged In with Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking magazine a few weeks back. 

It's call "Get Well Cone of Shame." Those Paper Crafts editors are too clever. The dachshund is a Silhouette cut file and I fashioned a cone from vellum and wrapped it around the dog's head.  The shadow is from a watercolor stamp set and the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.  

Well that's all for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Katie

A "Mini" Birthday Party

Good morning cuties and Happy Tuesday!!!

Today, I wanted to share a "Mini" party set I put together with Waffle Flower Crafts Bowtiful Stamp set + coordinating dies.   The moment I saw the preview of this stamp set, I was immediately reminded of a certain little lady mouse and her adorable Bow-tique and that was my inspiration for this "mini" party ensemble.

First up is a card bearing "Bowtiful" Birthday Wishes.  I trimmed a panel of cheerful yellow polka dot paper, matted it with red cardstock and adhered it to a black cardstock base. I die cut a fishtail banner from white cardstock and stamped the sentiment in black ink.  

I stamped the stitched bow onto red polka dot paper and die cut it with the coordinating die and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

Next up, some refreshments! I wrapped a piece of patterned paper around a glass beverage container (Starbucks Frappacino anyone?). I fashioned a little mousey with my circle punch and some black cardstock.  I stamped an die cut the solid bow image from Bowtiful and adhered it to the mouse to give her some style. The mouse and bow were adhered to a scallop circle that I punched from some more of the red and white polka dot patterned paper.  A yellow + white paper straw tops off this sweet beverage. 

What's a party without a cute party favor?  I used the Mailable 3D Bow Template die to cut 2 bows from red felt.  This die cut through the felt like buttah.  The bows were so easy to assemble and I used a few dabs of Tacky Glue to glue the bow to some simple silver hair clips. I also threaded two black buttons with twine and glued them to the center of the bows. 

For the bow backer board, I stamped the random star pattern then added a few sentiments from the Bowtiful set including "You are so cute" and "#Fancy."  I clipped the bows to a strip of clear acetate and stapled the acetate to the backer board. 

Lastly, the bow banner you see in the background of the pictures was created by stamping the stitched bow image onto patterned paper, die cutting the stamped image and adhering the die cuts to some black and white baker's twine- super simple, but very cute. 

Here's one last group shot of the "Bowtiful" party crew.  

Well that's all for me today!  I hope you have a "bowtiful" day!  

Katie

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Black, White-Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Pebbles, Jillibean Soup

Chipboard: Papertrey Ink

Clear Stamps: Bowtiful (Waffle Flower Crafts)

Dies: Bowtiful dies, Mailable 3D Bow Template die (Waffle Flower Crafts); Fishtail Flag Stax (MFT Stamps)

Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine); Wild Mango (WPlus9)

Felt: Benzie Design

Twine: The Twinery

Other: Buttons, Hair Clips (Hobby Lobby); Paper Straw (Siege)

Tools: Big Kick (Sizzix); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Punches (Marvy Uchinda and EK Success)

Sequin Shaker Blog Hop!

Hello everyone!

Waffle Flower Crafts is sponsoring the Sequin Shaker Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh on April 26th!

Today, our Waffle Flower design team girls are sharing some sequin shaker cards to provide some ideas and help spread the word.

You should have arrived here from Joni Andaya's blog.  If not, please visit the Waffle Flower Crafts blog to pick up the entire hope order.

Given my relative inexperience with shaker cards, I decided to keep my creation it pretty simple. I cut a panel of aqua mist card stock and stamped it with the random star pattern from the Bowtiful stamp set.  Next, I cut a scalloped rectangle mat from white card stock with my Silhouette Portrait.  I centered the mat on the stamped panel and used a craft knife to cut a rectangle that is the same size as the center of the mat and adhered the mat around the opening.

I turned over the stamped panel and adhered a piece of acetate over the opening.  I lined the edges of the opening with foam tape and poured in some sequins.  I used the gorgeous Springtime Mix from Pretty Pink Posh. 

I stamped my sentiment (also from Bowtiful) on a scrap of white card stock that was a bit larger than my opening and adhered it to the foam tape to seal off the sequins.  Using a bit more foam tape, I attached the shaker panel to a Hibiscus Pink card stock base. 

Now for some details and a coupon!

Pretty Pink Posh Sequin Shaker Blog Hop

Link up your shaker creation on the Pretty Pink Posh Blog starting on Saturday, April 26, 2014 at 6 AM PST to Monday, April 28, 2014 at 11:55 PM PST. Everyone is welcome to play along and there will be loads of prizes from amazing sponsors. Waffle Flower Crafts is offering a Bowtiful Stamp Set and a Bowtiful Die Set as a prize!

If you need sequins, you can use coupon code BLOGHOP to save 15% on your order from Pretty Pink Posh from now through the hop day.

Your next stop on the hop is the fabulous Kim Kesti!

Good luck, everyone! Happy Crafting!

Katie

SPARKS Challenge: Peace Love and Happiness

Hello friends and Happy Easter!

Today begins another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This week is Anything Goes and here is my take on the challenge:

This card is one that I have had swimming around in my brain for a few weeks, and I decided to see if I could make it happen.  I borrowed a peace sign stencil from my daughter's crafty supplies and traced the shape onto a piece of cream card stock.  Then I filled in the shape with lots of florals from a few Paper Smooches sets including Calico, Botanicals 2, and Crystal Clear. 

I used a marker to add the small dots and the sentiment is from one of my very first Paper Smooches sets, Pretty Phrases.  I erased the pencil lines and rounded the corners.  Some distress ink around the edges added a bit more dimension and then I  adhered the stamped panel to a kraft card stock base. 

This card is also the first time I got to try out the new dye inks from WPlus9 and I love how vibrant these colors look.  I used Nautical Navy, Lake House, Appletini, Sweet Gelato, Cranberry Crush and Sweet Nectar.  Looking at the finished card, I should have made room for some leaves in the top right quadrant of the peace sign.  Note for next time, I suppose!  

Now it's your turn!! You have until 11:59 PT on Saturday, April 26 to link up your take on this week's sketch to the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog for a chance to win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Paper Smooches store. Woot woot!  

Be sure to check out the amazing inspiration from the other members of the SPARKS design team playing along with this week's challenge: 

Rachel
Taheerah
Trisha
Savannah

I can't wait to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by! :)
Katie

AE Challenge- Suzani Thank You Card

Hello friends!

Happy Friday!  I do hope that you are having a great week.  It's time today for another AEI♥U Challenge, and this time, the challenge is all about COLOR.

We were challenged to make a card using these beautiful shades and green and blue and here is what I came up with.  

I decided to pull out Suzani and inked up this set to build a fun pattern.  Suzani is just one of those super versatile sets that can take on a different look and feel depending on the colors you select.  The ink I used was from MFT Stamps: Berrylicious, Sno Cone, and Sour Apple. 

Once my pattern was built, I trimmed the panel and stamped the "thank you" sentiment from Bottle it Up in Versafine Onyx Black ink then I attached the panel to a pale aqua cardstock base.  

Well, that is all for me today, be sure to stop by the AEI♥U Challenge blog to check out even more amazing inspiration from the Design Team and to link up your take on this challenge.  I can't wait to see what you create!  

Thanks for stopping by!!

Katie

Take 2 Thursday: Lawn Fawn's Hello Sunshine Card

Hello friends!  

My friend cute friend, Lindsay, and I are back with another Take 2 Thursday!  This week we both made cards using Lawn Fawn's super adorbs Oh Happy Day set. 

And here is my card,

I couldn't resist making a bright, sunshiny card with this happy set.  I made my cardbase from a piece of yellow card stock.  Next, I trimmed and adhered a piece of the sun ray patterned paper from the Hello Sunshine petite paper pad. 

I die cut a cloud shape from white card stock and stamped "hello sunshine" in turquoise ink.  I stamped and paper pieced the bird and stamped a few red hearts as an accent.  Once all the stamping was complete, I rounded the bottem corners of the panel and card base and adhered the die cut and stamped panel to my card base with foam tape.  I think the dimension really adds some interest to an otherwise simple card.  

Well that's all for me today.  Don't forget to to stop by Lindsay's blog to check out her creation with this fun stamp set!  I know she has something amazing in store!  

Thanks for stopping by! 

Katie

PS- Oh, before I go, I wanted to announce the winner of the $10.00 Waffle Flower Craft code.  The winner was lucky #13- Makalah!  Makalah, I have sent you an email, but if you happened not to get it, please drop me a note at scrappy_diva (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will hook you up!  

SPARKS Challenge- Banner-licious Birthday Card

Hello friends!

It's time for another Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge.  This week's theme is picture perfect and our festive inspiration photo inspired this card:

I inked up several of the borders from the Borderlicious set with my Hero Arts ink (Pale Tomato, Butter Bar, Tide Pool, Fresh Peach) and used them as banners/streamers for this celebratory card.  I stamped the sentiment from Birthday Sampler in the bottom left corner and added a few random sequins to up the festive factor.   

I trimmed the stamped panel at an angle and added a few more angled panels I created from cardstock for good measure.  All of the angled pieces of card stock were adhered to a kraft card base. 

Here's a look at this week's inspiration photo: 

Isn't this picture fun?!?

Now it's your turn!! You have until 11:59 PT on Saturday, April 19 to link up your take on this week's sketch to the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog for a chance to win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Paper Smooches store. Woot woot!  

Be sure to check out the amazing inspiration from the other members of the SPARKS design team playing along with this week's challenge: 

Rachel

Taheerah

Trisha

Savannah

I can't wait to see what you create! Thanks for stopping by! :)

Katie

Notions Thank You Card, a Coupon + a Giveaway

Hello friends,

I am so excited to be sharing my first "official" post as a member of the new Waffle Flower Crafts design team!  Last week, Waffle Flower released 4 awesome stamp sets and 3 dies and today I am sharing a sweet and colorful Thank You card made with the Notions set.

I die cut a stitched panel from speckled cream card stock and stamped the sentiment in brown ink.  Next I stamped the thread spools with kraft ink and the thread in several colors of Hero Arts Shadow Ink including Pale Tomato, Fresh Peach, Soft Cantaloupe, Butter Bar and Tide Pool.   I then filled in the gaps with other smaller images from the set including the scissors, buttons, thimbles, twine and hearts.

Here is a look at the Notions stamp set.  It's available now in the Waffle Flower Crafts store.

To celebrate my first post, I have a $10.00 gift certificate to give away for the Waffle Flower Crafts store.  Just leave me a comment by 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 13 for your chance to win. 

I also have a coupon for the most adorable heart die for FREE with your order of $50.00.  It makes darling confetti... but more on that later. :)

  

Well that's all I have today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Katie

Stamp Out Chaos: Paper, Ink, and Stamps

Hello, hello friends!

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another installment of Stamp Out Chaos.  In case you missed our first post on this series, you can catch up here.

This week, my dear friend Lindsay and I are tackling supply basics- stamps, ink, card stock, paper- the foundation of many paper crafts.  I wanted to tackle this area first because it's so important to have these supplies handy and functional.   I have lots to share, so let's begin!

Stamp storage 
For my stamp storage, I use the Avery Elle envelope/Fridge Binz system that Jennifer McGuire introduced about a year ago.  I have two Fridge Binz full of stamps which fit perfectly in two of the cubby openings in my Expedit.  I apologize that I don't have photos of this system in place in my space.

I set up this system last year and it works so well, that I didn't even touch it in preparation for this week... When evaluating your space, take stock of which systems are working for you and which are not.  Focus your time in efforts on improving the ones that are not working.

Card Stock
Ahh card stock...  I use this supply most of all.  It's really the starting point, so I wanted to get the right solution for me in place.  Previously, I was keeping my full sheets of card stock in one of the Expedit openings using a Large 4 sort divider from the Container Store to keep it upright.  It worked ok, but it was really best suited for full sheets of paper and scraps needed to be stored elsewhere.... enter these...

source

I was storing all my scraps in Iris drawers like what you see above.  I had 4 sets of drawers and each drawer was a different color (ROYGBIV), plus a few drawer for patterned paper.  The problem with this set up, for me, was I was not reaching for these scraps.  Most of the time, I would just cut another piece of card stock rather than go hunt for a smaller piece... AND it took up a lot of space. And putting my scraps away? Forget about it!  They would pile up and threaten to take over my workspace. 

I spent some time considering my habits and which organizational tendencies came naturally to me.  As it turns out, I am really good at dropping things and piling things.  Keeping my strengths in mind, I ended up going with an Elfa File Cart from the Container Store. 

This works so well for me because it's already built for 8.5 x 11 paper and it makes the most of my organizational strengths.  I just drop the paper into the files and pile the small scraps in the drawers below.  I love that the paper files are open and easily assessable, plus it's on wheels and can wheel out or tuck back under my workstation.  Here is my cart in action. 

I keep full sheets and large scraps (card base size or bigger) in the file folders any scraps smaller than that go into the drawers below. One tweak I made to the cart was to adjust the number of sliding drawers.  The unit comes with one 1-runner drawer and one 2-runner drawer; I opted to purchase two additional 1- runner drawers so I could devote a drawer to colors, a drawer to white & cream, and a drawer for neutrals. 

I printed some labels for the drawers on card stock and slipped them into an Elfa drawer label holder.  Now this unit was a little pricey at $99.00, regular price, but I did purchase it during the annual Elfa Sale which The Container Store holds each January-February, so that certainly helped.    

Patterned Paper

Next I moved onto patterned paper.  I don't use patterned paper as much as cardstock and I took an opportunity to purge my stash considerably.  I also trimmed down my scraps as well as paper patterns that I thought were particularly well suited for card making to 6 x 6 sheets and placed them in a plastic bin that I picked up at the Target dollar spot.  I also placed my 6 x 6 pads in one of the plastic bins which will sit on my desk. I placed smaller scraps in a paper mache suitcase shaped box that I also picked up at Target. 

The patterned paper that I left in 12 x 12 sheets I placed in a Medium Multi-Purpose bin from the Container Store. 

12 x 12 sticker and accent sheets were also placed in a small multi-purpose bin and placed on a shelf in the Expedit. 

Ink

Before I blew up my craft room, I was using a wooden cassette holder I found on Craigslist to store my ink.  While this worked pretty well, some of the slots were not tall enough to hold thicker ink pads like Hero Arts Shadow ink.  

I decided to gather all my full size ink pads together and stack them on my old Making Memories Embellishment Center. 

I took some time to label the sides of the ink pads with my handy dandy label maker.  

I love having all my full size pads at arms length and putting them away is super easy- just stack and go.

I store my ink cubes in a plastic supply box that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  Three cubes fit in each opening.  I am in the process of labeling the sides of the cubes.  This system is perfect for crafting on the go and fits neatly into drawers. 

 So whew, that was a lot to review, so I have just two more pictures to share... a little card I made with all my newly organized "basic" supplies. 

Using some of my card stock scraps, I put together this thank you card.  The sentiment and stars are from Paper Smooches Bold Buzzwords stamped in black ink.  

That's all for me today.  Don't forget to stop by Lindsay's blog for her organizational brilliance.  We will be back in two weeks time with ideas and solutions for organizing embellishments!  

Thanks for visiting!

Katie

DIY Watercoloring with Reinkers

Hello friends,

Happy Monday! I am back today with another DIY "Saturday" post... a bit late... I am not entirely sure how that happened except that there might have been some cold medicine involved. :)  I came down with the mother of all colds towards the end of last week and have been in a bit of a fog over the past couple days.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you some photos of how I created my hombre watercolor background featured in this card last week.   I have just begun to explore watercoloring over the past month, and I was looking for a way to play around with the look without investing money and craft room space on a technique that I may not like.  As I was experimenting, I recalled a workshop many years ago, where the teacher taught us how to watercolor with our ink pads.  So if ink pads would work- why not reinkers?

Here is what you will need:

• Watercolor paper
• 2-3 DYE ink reinkers- I used my very old Stampin' Up shades: Barely Banana, Blush Blossom, and Pink Pirouette

TIP: Alcohol ink reinkers will not work for this technique.  Don't ask me how I know it, except for saying that my fingers were so red that it looked like I was interning at Sweeney Todd's barbershop....

• Water brush- I kept mine empty, just a preference
• Water- duh

First I brushed the watercolor paper with a bit of water.  I find that having the paper a bit moist helps the ink blend from the get-go. 

Then I places a few drops of each color of reinker on the paper. 

Then using a bit more water, I blended the colors with the brush using loose strokes and moving down the paper from lightest to darkest.  If you want to go over the light areas again, don't forget to rinse your brush.  

Now let it dry, this is the hard part, but a heat gun will speed up the process.  Take care if you decide to move the paper.  Depending on how wet it is, it may drip and run. 

Then I decided to heat emboss a sentiment from Mama Elephant's Make a Wish set.  Watercolor paper is pretty porous, so you may want to use a foam pad under your project, along with lots of pressure on the stamp impression. 

And here is the finished project!  I attached the watercolor panel with foam tape to a yellow card stock base. 

I love finding new uses for supplies that are already in my stash!  I also used a reinker to achieve a watercolor look in this card for the latest Avery Elle I {heart} U challenge. I used only one color of reinker for that card- so it was even more simple. 

Well I hope this how-to has been helpful and I would love to see your watercolor masterpieces with reinkers. Link me up in the comments section and I will pop by to take a look!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! 

Katie

Watercolor Nautical Card

Hi friends!

It's time for another AEI{heart}U challenge and I think you are really going to LOVE this week's theme- it's... wait for it.....  Watercolor!!! Can I get a woot-woot??!!

So I am a total Watercolor neophyte and this card is actually one of my first attempts, so I kept it simple with just water and a few drops of reinker.

Once my background dried, I stamped the waves from Knotty in blue ink.  Then I stamped and paper pieced the boat image.  I stamped the sentiment and added a bit of red grosgrain ribbon and a button tied with twine before adhering the panel to a cardstock base that I debossed with a woodgrain impression plate. 

Now it's YOUR turn! Go make something awesome with your Avery Elle stamps or free digi that incorporates watercoloring and link up your amazing creation to the  AEI{heart}U challenge blog.  Be sure to check even more inspiration from the Design Team as well as all the challenge deets and deadlines while you are there too.  

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I can't wait to see what you create!!!

Have a great day!

Katie